Philip (7)

7. PHILIP, the second of the seven Deacons chosen by the Apostles after our Saviour’s Resurrection. This Deacon, they say, was of Cesarea in Palestine. It is certain, that Isidor. Pelusiot. l. 1. p. 449. Acts xxi. 8, 9.his Daughters lived in this City. After the Death of St. Stephen, all the Christians, excepting the Apostles, having left Jerusalem, and being dispers’d in several Places, St. Philip went to preach at Sebaste or Samaria, where he performed several Miracles, and Acts viii. 1, 2, 3, &c.converted many Persons: He baptized them; but being only a Deacon, he could not give them the Sacrament of Confirmation , and the Holy Ghost: Wherefore, he made known to the Apostles at Jerusalem, that Samaria had received the Word of God; that they should come and lay Hands on them, and communicate the Holy Ghost to them. St. Peter and St. John came thither; and the Samaritans that were converted received the Holy Ghost by their Means. Simon Magus had been admitted to Baptism, among others, by St. Philip: But St. Peter would not lay his Hands on him, and rejected, with Contempt and Execration, the Proposal he made to him, of purchasing with Money the Power of communicating the Holy Ghost. Euseb.Hist. Eccl. l. 3. c. 39.go on the Southerly Part of the Country, in the Road that leads from Jerusalem to Old Gaza: For there were two Cities of Gaza, the Old and the New; the Old was then forsaken, and was upon the Road to Egypt. Philip obey’d; and there met with an Ethiopian Eunuch, belonging to Candace Queen of Ethiopia, who had the Care of her Revenues, and had been at Jerusalem, to worship God there; he was then returning into his own Country, and was reading the Prophet Isaiah; as he travelled in his Chariot. Then the Spirit of God said to Philip, Go on, and approach to this Chariot. Philip coming to the Chariot, heard the Man reading the Prophet Isaiah, and said to him, Do you understand what you read? To which the Eunuch answered, How should I understand, except Some-body explain it to me? He desired therefore Philip to come and sit down by him in the Chariot. The Passage he was reading was this; He was led as a Sheep to the Slaughter; and like a Lamb dumb before his Shearer, so opened he not his mouth. The Eunuch says then to Philip, Pray, who does the Prophet here speak of? Is it of himself, or some other? Then Philip began to instruct him concerning Jesus Christ. And having gone on together for some time, they came to a Fountain, when the Eunuch said to Philip, Here is Water; what hinders me from being baptized? Philip told him, He might be so, if he believed with all his Heart. He replied, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He then caused the Chariot to stop, and they both went down into the Water, where Philip baptized the Eunuch. a Being come out of the Water, the Spirit of the Lord took away Philip, and the Eunuch saw him no more. But Philip was found again at Azotus, and preached the Gospel in all the Cities he passed through, ‘till he returned to Cesarea of Palestine, which is about thirty Leagues from Azotus.

‘Tis thought that this Eunuch was the first Apostle of the Ethiopians;¹ and the Abyssines boast of having receiv’d the Christian Faith from him. Some believe² he preached Jesus Christ in Arabia Fœlix, and in Taprobana; but these are such as think his Mistress, Queen Candace, reigned in Arabia Fœlix. The most prevailing Opinion is, that this Eunuch belong’d to a Queen of the Peninsula Meroe, to the South of Egypt. Women commonly reign’d in this Vid. Strab. l.17. Plin. l. 6. c. 29. Acts viii. 26,27,&c.Part of Ethiopia, and several of ‘em have St. Philip was, probably, at Samaria, when the Angel came to command him to gone by the Name of Candace. The³ Greeks hold the Feast of this Eunuch on the Canis. t. 2. p. 850.27th of August.

But to return to St. Philip: The Scripture does not inform us what he did after this time, that is, after the 33d Year of the Menæa xi. Octob.Vulgar Era. The modern Greeks say, that this holy Deacon left Palestine, to go to Tralles in Asia, where he founded a Church, of which he was the Apostle and Bishop, and where he rested in Peace, after performing many Miracles. The Latins, after Usuard and Ado, say, on the 6th of June, that he died in Peace at Cesarea, and that three of his Daughters were there buried with him. Ado adds, that the fourth Adon. & Martyrol. Rom. vi. Jun.died at Ephesus; but he has mistaken this fourth Daughter of St. Philip the Deacon, for St. Hermione Daughter of St. Philip the Apostle, of whom we have just now spoke. Caius, also, an ancient Priest of the Romish Church, apparently confounds the Daughters of Philip the Deacon, with those of the Apostle of the same Name, when he says, that the four Daughters of the Deacon dwelt at Hierapolis in Phrygia. When St. Paula came to Cesarea, in the Year of Christ 386, she had a mind to see the House of St. Philip, and the Chambers of his Daughters. The Greeks celebrate the Feast of St. Philip the Deacon on the 11th of Hieronym. Ep. 27.October, and the Latins on the 6th of June.

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